At this crossroads in our history, I would like to share an excerpt from my novel- American Scum. As we witness what I hope is the death-throw of greed based capitalism I share this excerpt to help the 99% meet those blue clad protectors of the 1%, the police. Local police officers around our nation are faced with a challenging decision. They must keep their immediate employment, and to do so must meet the demands of their superior officers, even if those orders mean pepper-spraying an 86 year old lady. If they do not follow orders- they fear being fired…who can afford that right now?
Well, who can afford the status quo anymore? I hope that police forces around the country wake up to the reality that they are part of the 99% -and if we are an egalitarian and democratic people than the people are their real bosses. The police are there to protect us – the 99%- and yet they continue to protect the status quo. Remind them who they work for- and don’t get caught up in their big boy act. At their worst, they are scared children with death at their hips. At their best, they are our personal armed guards there to ensure we can use our right to peaceably assemble.
Put the Spray Away.
Occupy Everywhere. Start with your own mind.
Novel Excerpt:
These men and women of the local law enforcement who crowd my driveway are acting within their functions. They are displaying neither extreme belligerence nor cowardice. They are not displaying much courage either, you might say the opposite, but such a statement would be an ignorant one. How is it courageous to act as you have been instructed to? There is a total lack of responsibility in their actions because they have been instructed and influenced into them. They are not responsible for their actions, the rest of you are, their directives are responsible. Some bureaucrat or politician in a nameless box on a nameless street in every city in America wrote down their policies, their rules of engagement, they are programs being programs.
I no more fault them then I praise them. Their lives are in immediate danger, and they are doing what many of you confess you could not. But that in itself is not courage, it is simply training and manipulation. These people, these cops, have been told time and time again that they are the elite, and the first line against social decay. They are reminded of their status every moment they are on duty. Every time they enter a public space, gun beside them, uniform around them they are reminded. These things convince them of the truth of their special status. Though it is not actual, they remain mere humans in cloth armor. Not the guardians of society, but the warriors of the status quo. They defend stability, increase the rot from within.
